certainly one important reason, because the technology in our ships was the best in the world. the results are true, that the training and the spirit of our sailors was superb. and we had absolutely first-class leadership in the navy. you will hear later today from admiral gary some examples of just how impressive that leadership is. the operational readiness of the fleet was a result, first of all, of having bases all around the world. but secondly because the strong program of exercise we conducted. the exercises were not only conducted on military scenarios, but we had an extensive set of exercises involved in humanitarian response. during the time i was secretary, we had a disaster response very similar to the one they're doing here in san francisco today. we bought naval forces from the united states, from russia and japan all to honolulu where we had simulated a tsunami disaster. and these three great nations brought their fleets to honolulu exercising how to respond and alleviate that disaster. well, that was then. how about now? last year the united states released a ne